As a born Psychologist, Ayodele Daniel Dada ran into his passion in books of mixed genre. He defied the boundaries that enveloped his dreams and has lived a life of colours – disappointments and strides. Ayodele gathered the pieces of his set-back in 2011 when his UTME result was cancelled, eight years after completing his secondary school education, and moved on to explore the difficulty of being a stubborn knowledge seeker. Today, he stands tall among his peers, creating a record of 5.0 CGPA after 54 years of UNILAG. Born and raised in Lagos but hails from Ekiti, Ayodele presently interns with Procter and Gamble.
In this interview with OBAJEUN, Ayodele shares an inspiring story of relentless drive, steadfastness and passion for knowledge.
Family and the journey to UNILAG
We are just two. I am the eldest. My mum is a teacher and dad is an accountant. He retired from active work. He does contractual work now. In 2011 when I wrote UTME and I applied to study Psychology, I prepared very hard for it and I knew I was going to get a very good score. When the result was released, mine was cancelled. I thought about it and wondered why they would do that. It was not really about my Exam Centre where I did the exam. I discovered that they felt that I could not have gotten some scores in some subjects if I hadn’t cheated. I tried to see it from their point of view even if I didn’t like it. The whole situation just upset all what I wanted to do because I paid for the UTME form as nobody supported me and nobody thought that putting in for Psychology worth it, even my parents. Expectation was that I was going to apply for Engineering or Medicine, even Accounting. All through the while, what my parents believed in was if it was not UNILAG, then nowhere else. I bought into it at least, but I made it clear that even if I was told to go to UNILAG, it has to be on my own terms. I really wanted to get a bit of independence. You know sometimes too, parents can be overbearing and they say do this, do that.
I wanted to start my university education in 2010, but it was the period when my dad had an accident and he was hospitalized. It is just by the grace of God that he is alive. Prior to that, my relationship with my dad wasn’t that cordial. We had too many differences of opinions. Luckily, the accident united us. After the accident, we just realized that we could not just keep going like that. Our relationship blossomed afterwards. Then in 2011 when my UTME was cancelled, my dad even followed me to some places when we were investigating the reason for the cancellation. We were wasting a lot of time trying to understand what went wrong with my result and at a point; I just felt that I should find an alternative. So I opted for UNILAG Diploma.
The battle for Psychology
Yes I chose to study Psychology. At a point nobody was even interested to support me if Psychology was what I wanted to do. They thought I was not going to make much success out of it. I chose Psychology having tried a number of things.
After secondary school in 2003, I went for a computer course when everybody was talking about IT. I did a lot of things in IT, especially in hardware, mast commissioning, BTS etc. There was a certification I did on it. But it was not like I really used it because it was not something I really wanted. I did French a bit. I was thinking I might be an interpreter as we were told that interpreters for United Nations were high in demand. Till today, I like French and I still have interest in it. Then I did a little of music production. I learnt under someone at a time. I also worked with an uncle while I was into music production. All through this, I needed to get a hold of something I really wanted to do, the thing I believed in. There was a lot of pressure as to what was next for me. I even wrote UTME at some point and got an admission to study an Engineering course. But I knew it wasn’t me. I made a conscious effort to tell myself the hard truth. I just didn’t want to go along with the flow of what people were doing. I didn’t want to end up as a mediocre. I am not very good in conforming to what people want. I just like to think on what I really want to do. Even before I chose Psychology, I had to ask myself questions. So choosing what I wanted to do as to do with identifying where my passion intersected my ability. So if I am good at something, I have to like it in order to make success out of it. Through this journey of finding my path in life, I was also busy reading. I read wide till I encountered Psychology in books. I read quite a number of books between 2003 and 2011 before I entered UNILAG.
Survival in the face of discouragement
I encountered some hard terrains. Before UNILAG while working in music production, I also worked with my uncle to earn some money. My uncle was into importation of building materials. It was very big; he even has a ship of his own. He was based in the UK, but he was coming to Nigeria to do most of his business. He would travel, bring the materials into Nigeria, I would join him in marketing the materials. We would go to his customers in Mushin area. I was following him around, that was even when Ajah and Lekki were really opening up for construction, so we had to also get a share of the market in those areas. We got deals; I joined him in meeting some of his clients and partners. I interacted with most of them. I have a lot of experience in VGC area too, we had a lot of customers around the area. It was an interesting period and also hectic. But then I knew what I was looking for. I was looking for meaning, essence and answers to my difficult questions.
When I opted for UNILAG Diploma, I had to go extra miles to raise my school fees. I had to meet some family and friends as I could not really gather all what I needed to foot the bill for my Diploma programme. I needed close to NGN500,000 to pay school fee at the time. I became more determined at the time that I was ready to push boundaries to secure the Diploma admission. I made all the necessary calls and paid the first installment, second installment and all that.
The UNILAG experience
I footed by bills in UNILAG because I did not want to burden my parents. There was a time I sold computer accessories to my friends, even to my colleagues in school. There was a time a started tutoring. After a while, I realized it was easier to tutor and make money than to be moving around with computer accessories to sell. So I set up a tutorial for Diploma students, I got paid well from it and I even met some parents of the diploma students. So tutoring became my primary source of income and selling computer accessories became secondary. I was living very well at the time because I was being paid well and on time. It helped me a lot. There was a time I was even able to do some things for my parents.
When we joined others in 200level, we were mocked for paying so heavily to come into UNILAG, more like saying we paid our way into school, that we didn’t come in through normal channel. It took me a while to settle for my Diploma programme because of how hectic it was for me to pay up the bills. Consequently, my first semester was not that fantastic. My CGPA was 4.6. When I got that, I felt a bit bad, though people were like this guy is good. What happened was that I got an ‘A’ grade in all courses except one where I got a ‘D’ grade. I went to complain and I was told that I should not bother as my CGPA in Diploma would be zeroed when I migrate into 200level. I had to keep getting better. In second semester I had 4.91. I knew I was gradually getting a hold of it. Aggregate then was 4.73 when I resumed in 200level. Some people have asked me that what if my CGPA was to be calculated from Diploma? I would still have ended up with 4.9+ all the same, but then I would have been more settled in 100level.
My 400level was a big deal. I headed many committees to deliver on some project objectives. There was a programme we organized and we brought in Lanre Olusola and Bankole Williams to talk to us. Most of what these people do is extracted from the field of Psychology. It was fun having them around.
Relationship with lecturers
Somehow some of them were wondered what the big deal was about me. What was so special about me. After a while, I showed them that I was not really in Psychology to pass exams, I really wanted to know Psychology. And they saw that I was ready to connect with them. It is easy to understand when people don’t really dig you, basic Psychology would teach you that. Either your presence reminds the person of his or her unpleasant past or there are some cues you are emitting. It is all about our senses, they spring memory. So I had to see that my interest and their interest were aligned and I made them to see that I was in their team. I have colleagues who embarrass lecturers because of what they know, but I don’t do that because I know that lecturers are also humans, they have emotions. My class was a competitive class; we had five first class graduates – first time in the history of my department. I leveraged on collaborative relationship to work with my lecturers.
At the end of my 300level, I had to accompany one of my lecturers to an international conference. We were even allowed to present papers and my name was even mentioned in the proceedings from the conference. Some of my colleagues also joined us.
The next big thing
I don’t plan to spend all my time in the classroom. One of the challenges facing Psychology as a discipline is that people are yet to see its real value. People think that it is something one can use to manipulate others. I was monitoring some social media treads on nairaland and I saw where people who studied Psychology were described as Psychic. But there is a real world of difference between being a Psychic and being a Psychologist. It just shows a general misconception about Psychology. For instance anytime I tell people that I studied Psychology the next question I get from them is that I should tell them what they are thinking. I have heard that a number of times. This can be changed. When my story broke last week, someone called me from the UK that there are opportunities in the UK and that Psychology is being observed there and even in the US. I wondered why we don’t appreciate it in Nigeria, so we can also benefit from Psychology to transform our whole outlook to life in general. I believe in applying Psychology in the world. For instance, if one has to consult as some point, fine. It is something I am passionate about. If you ask me to start talking about psychology, I can talk it for hours without blinking, like minimum of four hours. It is because I understand Psychology. For me, teaching in class as a Professor is something I can do as I have even deputized for some lecturers to take 100level students, even my own class. I really like teaching as much as I like the application. I am looking for an ideal opportunity where I would be able to combine the two. I want to be in academics and also be very relevant in the industrial sector.
Recently, I learnt something about elevator pitch from Impact Your World Initiative, a brainchild of the owner of Delta Afrik, an oil servicing company. One of the things we did was to sell an idea within two minute to the then First Bank MD, Bisi Onasanya. I did that and I won. I actually applied my knowledge of Psychology to the contest. Most of my colleagues pitched on how much money Bisi Onasanya could get in return. But you don’t pitch an idea to someone without knowing the person, and being able to place the person appropriately in the level of his aspirations. I knew that Bisi Onasanya qualified as an accountant at the age of 22 and he has been in the banking industry for like 50+ years now. You don’t pitch an idea to such person based on money. You pitch your idea based on meaning, based on legacy, based on things he could leave behind and be talked about years after. There are theories you can apply from Psychology. I did that and won. For instance, a baby needs someone it can trust to receive the person. When you carry a baby, it senses the cues of trust before it can allow you. At some point in life, what preoccupies your mind is intimacy versus isolation – should I get married or not? So for Bisi Onasanya, I identified his stage and played to it. In essence, I am keen on the application of Psychology.
For me, I want to learn the application of Psychology from anywhere in the world. What matters is the quality of instruction and we are deficient in some areas of Psychology in Nigeria. For instance, in MIT, there are Professors whose specialty is Cognitive Psychology. There are other specialties such as Vigilance, which is widely used in counter terrorism. I have challenges in the area of Clinical Psychology, but if I have opportunity in going further in Clinical Psychology, I won’t mind.
My interest is not really about getting a job now. If I get opportunity to study abroad, I can get grant to take care of myself and some other immediate needs.
courtesy obajeun.com
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